Achieving gender balance within credit unions' executive teams has continued to be a hot button topic for CU Times readers. Here's what they had to say about it this past week.
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Recently, I witnessed the "parade of dinosaurs" at a recent CUNA event … the ice age is upon them, as credit unions become extinct and CUNA flounders around for a warming trend. Some are catching on … most are to obsolete to care. There are many examples of businesses disappearing from relevance … are credit unions next?
Read Lean In, friends. This is not a matter of discrimination, it is an ambition gap, as described by Sheryl Sandberg. Women are perpetuating this trend. As [CU Times Executive Editor Heather Anderson] states, one in 10 applicants for executive level positions are women. I have noticed the shortage myself when trying to recruit.
Mina, I would argue that the reason there are only one in 10 applicants for these roles is because they don't see anyone who looks like them in the C-suite. The same could be said for minority candidates. There is much work to be done in the credit union space in order to break down these barriers and become a more inclusive workplace.
Golden 1′s CEO is Donna Bland. She's been the CEO since 2010 and has been doing a fantastic job. However, most of the rest of the executive team is comprised of men.
If they're qualified, I'm OK with white guys in ties. We need to get off this politically correct bandwagon in favor of women, blacks, gays, etc. Let's hire the person who can best do it. If it's a white guy, fine … and it's fine if it's a minority who is best equipped to take over the CEO job.
I believe that too, Bob, if the circumstances are right. If you need a little diversity, go for it, if all other things are equal. Hire the other person – man, woman, gay, black, white, brown, yellow, green, whatever – to make things equal out, [with] no mandate but a sincere effort to help the other person, whoever that might be.
We also need to see more women on boards of directors!
Karena Mills
How about content of character rather than skin color or gender? There's room for all. Let's not degenerate into ripping down others when they succeed.
Change happens. It has in my business. How many women owned a design build company doing construction in 1982? You could count them on one hand and have fingers left over. There are now more women in construction management and owning construction companies today.
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